But since Babe was a pitcher nobody cared how he swung a bat . . . he was a pitcher, he was obviously clueless. So when he went to plate and swung away big deal on how he had no idea how to bat.
Oddly he led the league in home runs in 1918 as a pitcher. By 1920, when he converted into a fielder it was too late to correct his obviously flawed swing. Because baseball is ripe with the "NEVER CHANGE" attitude, for 7 years Ruth, all by himself, out homered every other major league CLUB.
This is a problem in major league baseball right now (and forever). No one likes to change. Look at defensive positioning that we are seeing in baseball. Old timers HATE it. It's not how the game is suppose to be played they say. The thing is that there are no rules on where you are suppose to play in the field. The only reason we play in a certain spot is because it's always been that way.
Now every batter has a new defensive adjustment. Even Strat-o-matic has defensive positioning. Take away a persons power and he gets on base more often. There is a trade off.
Another thing that is losing it's gold rating . The batting average. A totally meaningless stat in baseball. I remember waiting for the Sunday paper so I could stare at batting averages the entire day. Can anybody name the batting champions from last year (without Googeling) Remember Wade Boggs? Constantly hitting in the .350s but nobody ever talks about him constantly getting on base in the .460s which is unheard of now. An OBP of over .400 not once but 11 times.
Baseball used to believe a walk was an accident, not an offensive weapon. A walk really IS as good as a hit.
MLB has been tossing out ideas to see if any of them stick for speeding up the game. I don't know why they are worried. Record attendance, record TV revenue and the only major sport that is actually growing in popularity. Yet MLB tossed out "how about after the 13th inning in an extra inning ball game, have a home run derby to decide". YEA - make it more like soccer! zzzzzzzzz
The problem (if there is a problem) is the amount of strikeouts. A strikeout takes a lot longer then pitchers then letting a guy hit the ball. Yovani Gallardo struck out a lot but could only pitch 6 innings and his games were always a long affair. Batters don't mind striking out if they get a good swing.
The last few years has seem many more k's and many more homeruns as the young pitchers all throw upper 90s and the young hitters all go for HRs. Of course almost all pitchers get Tommy John surgery now. One team (San Diego) only has a few pitchers that did NOT have Tommy John surgery.
A slap hitter like Aoki are a dying breed even though he is a VERY run producer. His kind of swing is frowned upon in MLB and would be "corrected" before he made it to the Bigs. Again, old time thinking, stay in the norm, don't do anything weird that the good ol' boys don't understand.
sigh! I'm in a baseball mood as I'm in a middle of a draft. I'm also finishing up an article on Bob Poser and his pitching against Lou Gehrig in 1935.
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For anybody the cares. The GBO - those guys the GOP say are ALWAYS inaccurate and are saying the GBO is trying to discredit Trumpcare? Well, they did pretty darn good with Obamacare. If you are over 50 expect your insurance to go up with Trumpcare.
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Boaty McBoatface is alive!!! A submarine heading to Antarctica was as been named Boaty McBoarface.
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SO it seems that ZERO (0) humans have had sex in space. REALLY? I find that hard to believe.
Speaking of sex. A company called "Standard Innovation" is being sued by a woman who purchased a sex toy and found out the app she uses (We Connect) to . . . "do things" was collecting data such as how often, what settings, times and so forth from her phone. Seems she uses her phone to control the instrument that . . . will remain nameless.
IS NOTHING SACRED?
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A poll of Republicans believe that Christians face more discrimination then gay and lesbians. I have a bridge you can buy also . . .unless Trump has sold you one already.
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Last year at this time I was a lobbiest for Water and Light and took a trip to DC. I don't think I have posted this shot so here is the Metro in Washington DC.
